CHAPTER 20: GROWING CROPS

Ray asked Ruby to sit on the sofa and switch on the TV, while he started playing some cartoons stored in it and walked into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

Ruby was captivated by the cartoons playing on the television and sat there, mesmerized.

Ray entered the kitchen, took some rice that he had brought out from the village into a bowl, and washed them thoroughly with the tap water.

Then he filled the pure water according to the rice quantity into the bowl and put the bowl onto the stove.

He then removed the vegetables such as tomato, and curry leaves from the refrigerator and washed them thoroughly.

Ray then cut the tomatoes, onions, and potatoes into nice dice and kept them separately.

Subsequently, he commenced preparing potato curry, which was simple to make with the ingredients on hand.

By the time the curry was done, the rice on the stove had been cooked and Ray brought them all onto the dining table.

Ruby smelled the delicious smell emitting from the kitchen and was already waiting for him in the hall, as soon as Ray got out of the kitchen, she followed him and reached the dining table.

Ray asked her to sit anywhere and then pulled out a chair and sat down.

Ruby mimicked Ray's action and sat down at the dining table. However, he observed her seated and laughed out loud when he saw her attempting to reach the items on the table but failing due to her short stature.

Ray rose from his seat, went to the hall, and bought a cushion.

He instructed her to climb down while placing the cushion on the chair and asked her to sit.

Ruby climbed the chair, but there remained a gap between the chair and the table, which was adjusted by Ray with a slight push.

After returning to his seat Ray started serving the food and Ruby imitated his action and started eating with him.

After lunch, Ray placed the plates and other dishes in the kitchen sink, then returned to the, sat on the sofa, and watched cartoons with Ruby.

While watching the TV, Ray began thinking about the food supply issue again as he had only bought enough for one person.

The supplies he could use for a month now are only enough for 15 days for both of them.

As Ray was thinking about the issue, he remembered Ruby's ability to grow the plants.

"Ruby, can you help me germinate a few seeds and help me sow them in the back garden as we might not have enough supplies to eat if we don't farm," Ray asked Ruby.

"Ok," Ruby agreed happily.

Ray took the rice and vegetable seeds he got from the village and took Ruby's Hand then walked towards his backyard. 

Ray selected a spot on the edge of the mountain and requested Ruby to plow the ground using the vine technique she had employed earlier.

Ruby Summoned the vines and roughly plowed and summoned water technique to we the plowed land.

Ray then divided the land into two parts, one part is used to grow rice and wheat alternatively, while the other part of the land is used to grow vegetables. 

Ray handed the rice seeds to Ruby and asked her to germinate them and place them on the first field at a uniform distance.

Ruby gathered some energy then pumped the gathered energy into the seed and scattered them into the field.

After dispersing, Ruby once again summoned a drizzle and caused it to rain on the field.

Within a few minutes of planting and watering the seeds germinated and small plants had risen from the ground.

Ray entered the field and observed that there were several weeds interspersed among the rice plants. He then proceeded to remove the weeds carefully, ensuring that he did not step on the rice plants.

Meanwhile Ruby Started planting the vegetables in the second half of the field in the same manner she planted the rice plants in the field.

Ray completed plucking the weeds in the first half of the field, then stepped into the second half and began cleaning the weeds.

After completing his work, Ray once asked Ruby to accelerate their growth.

Ruby once again summoned the drizzle and watered the fields which accelerated the plants' growth.

Within a few minutes, the plants grew to the height of his thighs and started flowering.

Ray then thought of animals in the forest that were attracted when Ruby bloomed the fruit tree and began to worry about the safety of the plants at night.

Ray instructed Ruby to summon thin vines and asked her to surround the field to protect it from the animals entering and trampling them at night.

While Ruby was summoning the vines and making a barricade around the field Ray began thinking of the next crop.

"By tomorrow we can see the plants grow to their limit, maybe in 15 days I can plant my second crop of wheat in the field." Ray thought to himself.

He then asked Ruby to do the technique twice a day to accelerate the growth of these plants.

Ray thought that there were only two people here so two fields were enough for right now, but if there were more people on the mountain it might have been a hassle to increase the fields and take care of them.

Ray then went inside the house bought a chocolate and gifted it to Ruby for her hard work.

Which she happily accepted and stored in her pockets securely.

He then took Ruby's hand and reached the fortune tree, where Ruby stopped and

"Master, today I will return to the main body to rest as I'm tired and I will come back in the morning." Asked Ruby tiredly.

Only now did he Remember Ruby was Actively working hard to impress him; he touched her little head and asked her to return in the morning.

Ruby reluctantly went next to the tree and merged with it as a sign of resting.

"Come early in the morning, I will make delicious breakfast for you." Ray touched the tree bark and spoke.

The tree branches shook a little as a sign of agreement and Ray went back into the house to do his work.